Electricity bills are on the rise with all of the big six providers hiking prices this year - but could you cut your bills by creating and storing your own energy?

Darren Widdowson, from Northamptonshire decided to try generating his own electricity with solar panels and a battery storage unit from Ikea and he now pays just £4.50 every month for electricity to power his home and electric car.

Ikea claims the system can cut electricity bills by 70 per cent - or an average of £540 a year - as having the battery storage allows households to keep more of the electricity they generate, so they're not as reliant on the national grid.

But with the battery price starting at £3,000 and the solar panels pushing the total price up to £6,925 is it ever worth investing in a measure such as this and just how long does it take before you've got your money back?

Solar panels are a way to generate your own electricity by harnessing power from the sun and converting it into energy you can use to power your house, while the battery storage units allow households to use more of the energy they generate.

Neither of these are new products to the market, but Ikea claims its offering is the most competitive for sale and it is significantly cheaper than Tesla's similar system - its Powerwall, which starts at £5,400 not including the solar panels.

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'MY ELECTRICITY BILLS ARE NOW £4.50 A MONTH'

Darren Widdowson has seen his bills drop by 60 per cent with the new system

Darren Widdowson, a freelance business consultant from Northamptonshire, had a set of 18 solar panels installed in April along with a battery storage unit. Here he tells us how it works, the difference it's made to his home and how much money he's now saving.

'Technology is getting better, and the price is coming down, I already had an electric car so had been looking into solar panels for quite a while.

It was a significant investment for me but when I heard about the battery storage I thought it was a cracking idea. I wanted to get a lot of panels to make the most of having them so had 18 installed on my roof.

'And now it's doing everything I want it to – it's a pretty overcast day today but the battery is still at 100 per cent. Usually first thing in the morning it's at around 30 or 40 per cent and then back to 100 per cent by mid-morning.

'I had them installed in April and it took around a day to do, and now any electricity that I don't use is stored in the battery.

David is almost entirely off-grid now and produces most of his own electricity

'My electricity bills have dropped by around 60 per cent and I'm now paying more for the standing charge than I am for the electricity I use to my provider. When looking at just the electricity my bills are around £4.50 a month.

'The initial payout was £10,500, although this is more than the standard because I had 18 panels installed.

'If British Gas were to put its prices up by 12 per cent every year for electricity, my bills without the panels would have risen by around £2,000 every year.

'To me it's the way forward. I'd recommend it to anyone and I love the fact I can look at a web page and find out how much electricity I'm generating and how much I'm using around the house.'

A typical house with solar panels will consume 40 per cent of the electricity generated, with the remaining 60 per cent being sent back to the National Grid.

But the battery storage system, which has been produced with Solarcentury and Ikea, allows an average house to use 80 per cent of the electricity generated from the solar panels.

Ikea claims these units can double the amount of savings made by having solar panels and reduce average electricity bills by 70 per cent.

The total cost for the solar panels and battery storage is £6,925 and after around 12 years on average this will be repaid, the company estimates – during which time the household has been generating free, clean energy.

The exact price paid will vary depending on the number of panels installed, Ikea has a calculator on its website to estimate the savings possible by postcode.

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Hege Saebjornsen, country sustainability manager, Ikea UK & Ireland said: 'At Ikea we're always looking for ways to help customers take positive actions at home for both the environment and their wallets.

'We know that our customers want to live more sustainably and together with Solarcentury we will help them to get more value from their solar panels and do just that.

'With energy bills already going up 15 per cent this year, there's never been a better time for customers to take back control of their electricity bills and maximise their savings by switching to solar and solar storage.'

Susannah Wood, head of residential solar at Solarcentury commented: 'We're committed to helping homeowners reap the benefits of going solar and our business partnership with Ikea is a significant step forwards for the renewable energy industry.

'The cost of solar installations has dropped considerably in recent years and is in fact 100 times cheaper than it was 35 years ago. We believe Ikea and Solarcentury are bringing the most competitive package to the market yet so more people than ever before can profit financially and environmentally by producing their own energy.'

Lots of homes across the country have solar panels but since 2015 when the Government subsidies for those with the panels were reduced, they are now more costly.

While solar panels are a big cost, the idea behind them is over time you make the money back through lower electricity bills.

The feed-in-tariff is a certain amount paid by the Government to certain households for the electricity they generate through their solar panels.

It is paid quarterly by your energy provider but was cut by around 65 per cent in 2016.

For those thinking of having them installed, it’s worth looking at all the costs involved first. While the overall cost will be high – if you’re making a substantial saving each year on your electricity bills then solar panels may be worth it, however it could be 20 years or so before you start to see the savings.

QUICK MONEY SAVER: CAN YOU CUT YOUR BILLS?

Energy firms are constantly battling to pinch customers from each other.

Shrewd consumers can take advantage of this by reviewing deals every year to ensure they are on the cheapest deal. Even moving every other year will save you significant amounts.

If you are one of the millions of people who have NEVER switched (i.e. stuck with your original supplier), then you should save a big chunk of cash. A tenth of switchers saved £616 in the first half of 2016, according to energyhelpline.

You only need to be interested in the tariff that is going to be cheapest where you live, so do your own postcode comparison in minutes using the tool above - or here - to find the best price.

Read more about other quick tricks to make sure you are getting the best deal on your household bills here

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